Lizzie McGuire
Lizzie McGuire is a Disney Channel Original Series that aired on the Disney Channel from 2001 to 2004. Its target demographic was preteens and adolescents, but is also loved by adults as well. The TV show was created by Terri Minsky. The show's creatively offbeat, mixed media format stood out from the rest of the Disney Channel's programming of the time - and in essence, became the channel's flagship, and definitive show of the early 2000s. The show's producer Stan Rogow says the visual look of the show was partly inspired by Run Lola Run. Production was completed in 2002 after the show fulfilled its 65 episode order. Main Characters *'Lizzie McGuire' (Hilary Duff): Lizzie was a shy teenage girl, and is self-conscious middle schooler. She dealt with the same issues as normal teenagers do and eventually found a way through every obstacle. *'Miranda Sanchez' (Lalaine): Miranda was one of Lizzie's best friends; she, Lizzie and Gordo formed the main triumvirate. Miranda was the rebel of the three, but Lizzie was always there to watch her back. She did not appear in the last six episodes of the show, nor in The Lizzie McGuire Movie; she was said to be on vacation with her family in Mexico. Miranda's middle name is revealed to be Isabella in one of the episodes. *'Gordo' (Adam Lamberg): Gordo was one of Lizzie's best friends, and had been since she was one day old. He usually offered sarcasm and good advice. He was portrayed as being very intelligent and always gets good grades. He was also revealed to be Jewish, as shown in one episode where he had a Bar Mitzvah. In the episode "The Untitled Stan Jenson Project," it was revealed that Lizzie had a crush on him in the fourth grade. In The Lizzie McGuire Movie, Gordo was pulled into a lip-lock with Lizzie after she realized what a big mistake she has made. In the final episode, it was revealed that Gordo also had a crush on Lizzie. *'Matt McGuire' (Jake Thomas): Matt was Lizzie's younger brother. As a stock character, he was often destroying something. He had a best friend named Lanny, who did not speak on-screen. Matt was clever and wily, and had a reputation for getting into trouble. Matt and Lizzie shared a typical brother-sister relationship. They fooled around, annoyed each other, but were always there for each other at the end of each episode. He was rather intelligent/creative and knew how to humor people. *'Jo McGuire' (Hallie Todd): Jo was Lizzie and Matt's mother. She cared deeply about Lizzie, but was still trying to figure out how to raise a teenager. As a result, she sometimes tended to "mess up" situations in Lizzie's life, all the while trying to help make them better. At the end of each episode, Jo and Lizzie tend to come to an understanding and portray the unfaltering love of a mother-daughter relationship. *'Sam McGuire' (Robert Carradine): Sam was Lizzie and Matt's father. He could be best described as a bit goofy and quite clueless about raising his kids. However, he always tried his best to help Lizzie out and understand her, and was always available to lend a helping hand. Recurring characters *'Kate Sanders/Saunders' (Ashlie Brillault): Kate was the most popular girl in remedial help class, at Lizzie's school. Originally one of Lizzie and Miranda's best friends, Kate became popular because she got a bra after summer camp was over; as a result of her newfound popularity, Kate became Lizzie's enemy. Kate enjoyed trying to make Lizzie's life miserable, but Lizzie always managed to outsmart Kate and come out on top. References in episodes are inconsistent about her last name. *'Ethan Craft' (Clayton Snyder): Ethan was the boy who Lizzie, Miranda, and the rest of the girls at school had a huge crush on. He did not appear to be very bright, but he was kind and friendly to everyone. In Season One, he was portrayed as more of a bad boy or a class bully. For example, he used to force Gordo to do things against his will. At the beginning of the series, Danny Kessler was the "crush boy" instead, but he was not heard from since the first few episodes. A brief mention was made in The Lizzie McGuire Movie in which Lizzie talks about what she wore to her spring formal and what Danny Kessler thought about it. *'Larry Tudgeman' (Kyle Downes): (Referred to as "Tudgeman", or simply Tudge) Larry was the school dork. He was treated like an outcast by everyone except by Lizzie and her friends (with exceptions). He also had been known to wear the same shirt since the second grade. Larry had a huge crush on Lizzie (that she did not return), and even asked her out to go to the science museum. Lizzie accepted his invitation in order to make him feel liked. *'Claire Miller' (Davida Williams): Claire was Kate's new best friend. She was also not very kind to Lizzie. She could sometimes even be unkind to her friends, including Kate, as shown in the episode "The Rise & Fall of The Kate Empire." She represented the stereotypical popular girl portrayed on many TV shows. *'Lanny Onasis' (Christian Copelin): Lanny was Matt's best friend. He never spoke on-screen, but Matt seemed to have no problem communicating with him. Apparently, he was a direct descendant of Crispus Attucks. *'Melina Bianco' (Carly Schroeder): Melina was Matt's friend who loved getting Lanny and Matt into trouble and eventually became Matt's girlfriend. She was first introduced as Matt's enemy, but they both began to have feelings for each other. *'"Mr. Digg" Digby Sellers' (Arvie Lowe Jr.): Mr. Digg was Lizzie's cool, laid-back substitute teacher. In his lessons he often implied that he had educated celebrities like Frankie Muniz and Christina Aguilera. He befriended Lizzie's dad in one of the episodes, and dated Matt's teacher, Miss Chapman. Minor Characters *'Eduardo and Daniela Sanchez' (Armando Molina and Dyana Ortelli): They were Miranda's parents and appeared in a few episodes, including one in which they played a prank on Kate. *'Howard and Roberta Gordon' (Michael Mantell and Alison Martin): They were Gordo's parents, who were both psychiatrists. *'Parker Mackenzie' (Chelsea Wilson): Parker was a girl in Lizzie's class. In an episode, Gordo had a crush on her. She was a vegetarian, as shown in the episode "Obsession". In an episode, Gordo asked Parker for a dance but she refused because in her opinion he is too short for her. Parker disliked Lizzie because she sneezed on her Macaroni Art in the 2nd grade and sat on her Titanic Lunch Box in the 5th grade. *'Danny Kessler' (Byron Fox): Danny was Lizzie and Miranda's first heart-throb. He appeared in the first few episodes but was never seen again. He was mentioned in the episode "My Fair Larry" and in The Lizzie McGuire Movie. *'Veruca Albano' (Rachel Snow): She was a nerdy girl who appeared once in Season 1 and more often in later seasons when Lizzie enters the eighth grade. *'Amy Sanders/Saunders' (Haylie Duff): She was Kate's 18-year-old cousin. She acted quite a bit like a complete older version of Kate. Kate and Amy had a rocky relationship. In the episode when Amy first appeared, Kate is shown to have a softer, slightly self-conscious side. *'Coach Kelly' (Dot Jones): She was the gym teacher at Hillridge Junior High. *'Principal Tweedy' (Phill Lewis): He was the principal of Hillridge Junior High. *'Mr. Escobar' (Daniel R. Escobar): He was a teacher at Hillridge Junior High who taught Lizzie's class in junior grade. *'Two Big Guys' They are Sam's best friends who own a pet chimp named Fredo. Lizzie also saved one of their lives in "Rated Aargh!". Animated Lizzie Animated Lizzie was an animated character in the show. She represented the title character's inner thoughts, addressing the audience directly in the manner of a Greek chorus. The show was not the first series to use animation to reflect a live-action character's innermost thoughts, however; McGee and Me and Student Bodies, two syndicated program about the struggles of a cartoonist for a school newspaper, often used the artist's surrealistic caricatures of himself and his friends to visually illustrate his interior monologues. Animated Lizzie was also voiced by series star Hilary Duff. Spin-offs The show was completed after 65 episodes, which was reportedly a Disney policy for all of its series, although that has changed now due to the popularity and success of That's So Raven, Kim Possible, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and Hannah Montana. Disney considered continuing the franchise in further films and a prime-time television series with Lizzie and Gordo attending high school which was to be broadcast on ABC, but the plans never took off because Duff's representatives claimed she was not being paid enough for the proposed series. There were plans to launch a cartoon series based on Lizzie's animated alter ego, but no such thing materialized. There were also proposed plans to launch a spin-off based on Miranda's unseen sister, Stevie, known either as Stevie Sanchez or What's Stevie Thinking?. Syndication It was announced in late May 2006 that Superstation WGN (now WGN America) would carry Lizzie McGuire and Even Stevens in syndication; this began on September 18, 2006. As a result, Disney Channel has stopped airing both shows except for their holiday episodes. Until September 13, 2008, WGN America aired Lizzie McGuire on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at 4:00 a.m. Film A movie based on the show, The Lizzie McGuire Movie, debuted on May 2, 2003 at number two at the box office behind X2: X-Men United. It earned $42.7 million at the US box office and eventually grossed $55.6 million worldwide. It received mixed reviews with one critic calling it, "an unabashed promotion of Duff’s image, just as 'Crossroads' was for (Britney) Spears". Other reviews were generally positive and encouraging. Merchandising The character of Lizzie continues to be merchandised by Disney especially through a large set of books, which include novelizations of the episodes, original Nancy Drew-style mystery stories in the Lizzie McGuire Mysteries series, and "Cine-manga" pictorial adaptations (published by TOKYOPOP) with still shots from the show presented in manga style. A Lizzie McGuire doll was even released in 2002 by Dakin Toys. The 10" doll featured many of Lizzie's outfits for the doll. A plush doll of the Cartoon Lizzie was also made by Dakin in 2002. Fortune magazine estimated in 2003 that Lizzie McGuire merchandise had earned the Walt Disney Co. nearly $100 million. Radio Disney continually promotes Lizzie McGuire and regularly (although not as often as when the show was still running) gives away the show's CD in giveaways. Several home video and DVD versions of the show have been released in various countries. In the United States, some thematic episode collections were first released, and later a DVD box set consisting of 22 episodes from the first season (mostly, but not entirely, corresponding to the first 22 episodes in production order). This is designated as "Volume 1", but no current plans are known for the release of volumes 2 and 3 of the series, and poor sales of the first box set may prevent further releases. As of April 2006, a box set of 12 DVDs with all the 65 episodes of the show is available in Spain, and box sets (grouped into three 22-episode "seasons") Ireland TG4 are available in Australia and the UK. Lizzie-themed toys were included in a 2004 McDonald's Happy Meal series, which included CD-ROM discs containing Lizzie-related games and graphics and audio versions of "Lizzie" (not voiced by Duff) reading stories based on episode plots of her show. There is also a Lizzie McGuire bedroom set offered by some furniture stores as one of several Disney-themed children's bedrooms, and a What Would Lizzie Do? board game where players must judge Lizzie's likely response to various situations. Three Lizzie McGuire video games have been released for the Game Boy Advance: Lizzie McGuire: On the Go (2003), Lizzie McGuire 2: Lizzie Diaries (2004), and Lizzie McGuire 3: Homecoming Havoc (2005). Both seasons of Lizzie McGuire are now available on iTunes. In Pop Culture *In an episode of The Simpsons ("Milhouse of Sand and Fog", 2005), Milhouse uses the exclamation "Sweet Lizzie McGuire!" *In another episode of The Simpsons, Marge and Homer were seen leaving The Lizzie McGuire Movie, scared. *In Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog's song "I Keed", there's a reference to Fred Durst checking out the cast of Lizzie McGuire. ("And yet you're too old for Fred Durst to desire, he's checking out the cast of Lizzie McGuire")